This and that

A couple of changes on the sidebar of the blog:

>There is now a section on the right with links to every book lists I've posted.  I think that will make it easier for all of us to access them now.  The lists for girls start at age six and go right on up through eleven.  And there's a list for boys up there, too.  (I will keep adding lists as long as my kids continue to read, so keep checking back.)

>Every single year I read a passel of books but never keep track of them.  This year I am attempting to keep track of what I read through Goodreads.  In order to do so, I've joined their 2014 Reading Challenge.  There's a widget on my sidebar for that.  I really have no idea how many books I generally read in a year, so I picked a random number of 75 as my goal for the year and we'll see how I do.  If you click "view books" at the bottom of that widget, it will take you to a list of the books I have read.  (I'm also trying to review them as I go.)

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Audra and Ella play so well together.  They rotate between playing dollhouse and playing babies together.  Lately, it's babies.  So I have two little mommies toting their babies around and acting out all these little story lines.  It's very sweet.  Usually one or both of them are pregnant, too- with pillows or blankets stuffed into their shirts and a dolly on their hip.

A few times over the past week, I found them bickering over the one doll quilt that we have- one I made for Ella years ago.  Audra wanted it for her baby but it belongs to Ella, so while Ella was very generous to share it, she wanted it sometimes, too.  So I offered to make a quilt for Audra's baby.  She looked through all my fabric and chose these two and told me she wanted "little squares" and this is what we ended up with:

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A friend gave me a sourdough starter, and I am tentatively excited.  Tentative because I don't know what I'm doing and I don't want to screw it up.  Excited because I love bread- especially sourdough, and I think it would be amazing to have the ability to make some. 

So I have this little jar that I'm "feeding" daily and then I don't really know what to do after it's fully fed, but I'm researching it.  I'll let you know how it goes.  It's sort of my own little experiment.  

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We finally started school again today.  After TWO full months off.  (The first month was planned, the second was not.)  We had influenza at the start of this month, then the miscarriage, and then we ended the month with a round of the stomach flu.  Serious.  I.cannot.wait.for.spring.  Even though we're smack in the middle of winter, we do see tulips poking their heads up in our flower garden and little buds on my hydrangea bushes.  So it's coming.  Really.

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I'm memorizing some Psalms for the year.  I love the Psalms.  I casually decided I'd pick 3-5 of my favorites and memorize them, so I pulled out my Bible one evening to find my favorites, and I ended up with a list of seven.  So we'll see.  Maybe I'll end the year with only three memorized, and that will be fine.  Or maybe I'll be able to take on all seven and that would be great, too.  I've already memorized Psalm 1 (but then again it's only six verses, so it was an easy start.)  The ones I'm working on are: Psalm 1, 19, 27, 34, 71, 103, and 145.

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The women's Bible study at my church just recently started studying the book of Colossians, so I've joined that and am working my way through each word of Colossians, and loving it.  If you've never done a Precept study, I recommend it.

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Recently we watched North & South on Netflix, and we thoroughly enjoyed it.  And now we're watching Season 4 of Downton Abbey.   I always look forward to Parenthood, too.

It's quiet time at our house and I have already eaten some chocolate, but I have some reading to do in Ruth, some Colossians homework, and I'd love to journal if there's still time.

I hope you all have a wonderful day!